Avatar of Redemption
Asher and Omurai hurried down the mess of corridors in Tier Bastion, following a trail of bodies which were likely taken out by their target, Voyse. Finally they came to a fork in the corridors where a man was slumped against the wall, dead. They turned down the path the man was facing and moved down it. Shortly they found a pummeled mess of what was once a body and one of Voyse’s daggers facing down a corridor.
“This is disgusting…how did he do this?” Asher said, examining the heap of a body.
“I don’t know…looks like it was crushed in several places and then cut in half…I don’t know if Voyse did this or not. This doesn’t look like Voyse’s work,” Omurai said.
“Then, who?” Asher asked.
Omurai shrugged and started moving down the corridor that Voyse’s dagger was. “Come on…he likely dropped this dagger in a hurry down this corridor.”
Asher leaped to his feet and followed.
**********
Faux stared in awe as Kara’s eyes and tears began to glow golden. Slowly, her hair began to float as if a wind was pushing it. In an instant, a set of angelic wings sprouted from her back, through her armor, to extend outward. A second set of wings also appeared, and the two sets began to flap, lifting the paladin off the ground. Her armor began to change, becoming flowing sheets of metal instead of jagged joints. Feathers covered all of her joints. Her size began to grow, until she was bigger than two of the giants on each other. A magnificent helm composed of gems and feathers appeared on her head, and a guard covered her mouth, leaving only a small area around her eyes opened. A glamorous sword in the shape of two feathers combined with a hilt of gems and a wrist guard of feathers appeared in her right arm. A shield with the emblem of Kaith appeared in her left hand. Her hair slowly floated down to lay on her shoulders, some of it still floating freely in the air.
Lament thoughtlessly swung his hammer at the giant angel in front of him. As soon as his hammer hit Kara’s shield, it turned into tiny orbs of light and floated away. Lament looked at his empty hands in confusion as Kara gave a mighty upswing of her sword. A blade of light energy grew from the blade and sliced right through Lament. The giant slowly split in two, particles of light burning off of him. He faded into a whole mess of light particles that floated away.
Soldiers had been pouring in around Faux and Kara as she started the transformation, but now they stood unsure of their decision, some even turning to flee. Kara slammed her sword into the ground, causing a wave of light energy to cover the land in all directions around her. Faux was covered by the wave, flinching in fear, only to find that he was unharmed. The Bladenheart soldiers weren’t as lucky. Any of them hit by the wave were instantly turned into light particles and float away.
Kara lifted her sword again, slashing at the secondary tower in front of her. The blade of energy that crested from her sword slammed into the tower, burning away a large crack in it in the shape of her blade.
Faux watched this display of energy in a mixture of awe and fear, unsure what had happened to his friend. He rose to his feet and looked up at the magnificent image that was the Avatar of Redemption.
**********
Thalys moved up a spiral flight of stairs. He was in the secondary tower, supposedly following the mysterious assassin he saw. Suddenly he came around a turn and saw what seemed to be a ball of spikes jutting out of the wall. He came up to the anomaly and looked closely.
“It’s like…a giant flail sticking into the wall…I’d hate to see whatever was wielding that!” He said with a sigh.
Thalys looked for a way to move around the flail, for it covered the steps. He kicked away a damaged piece of railing from the flail that separated himself from the center of the tower. He got down on the ledge of the stairs and looked down. He gulped at the look of a very long drop awaiting him. The nobleman closed his eyes and moved up the side of the stairs with his hands. Once he had a clear path back on the steps, he got back to a safe position and hurried up the stairwell again. In no time he found an end to the stairs and a small room awaiting him.
Thalys found the faceless standing with its back to him. In its hand was a small round emblem that would have been on a necklace. There was a small hole in the middle, and ancient writing engraved on it.
The faceless put the emblem away in a pouch on its belt and turned around to face Thalys. It was indeed the same one he had fought in the windmill, but with a large slash across its chest.
“Oh no…not again,” Thalys groaned, taking a step back from the faceless and drawing his swords.
The faceless lunged forward, beginning the usual flurry of strikes at Thalys, who worked furiously to keep back the stinging punches. He caught the two in a cross of his swords and the faceless’s arms. He pushed forward and shoulder rammed the faceless, sneaking in a small slash with one of his swords. Thalys grinned at the hit and got a kick in the face for the pause, biting his tongue and falling to the ground. He looked up to see the faceless in the air above him with a fist held upward. Thalys rolled to the left to avoid the attack and got to one knee. The faceless slammed into the ground, causing the ground to crumble around it. It waved its free hand’s fingers around, causing all the free rocks that were falling to fly onto the tip of its fingers. It closed its hand a bit and then flipped all the rocks at Thalys, who had no time to react. Rocks sped past him at unremarkable speeds, several of them slamming into his chest armor and sticking. One cut him across the left cheek as he fell backwards in surprise.
The faceless leaped forward as Thalys lifted his legs to fend off the attack. The faceless grabbed both of his legs and leaped over him, causing him to bend uncomfortably. The faceless twisted his legs around quickly and let go, causing Thalys to spin around on his head for a moment before running into a wall. He rose to his feet, somewhat dizzy, to see the faceless leaping at him with a flying kick. He let out a small squeak of surprise and fell on the ground in a roll. The faceless slammed into the wall with one foot and casually landed on the ground. As it stood up straight to attack again, a huge beam of light energy suddenly burst through the wall, engulfing the faceless and taking with it much of the wall. The floor near the now vacant wall began to crumble away as well, taking the seemingly lifeless creature with it. In an instant the faceless regained consciousness and clawed its way back to stable ground. Its usual narrow eyes were now widened in shock, like a sheer look of horror without a mouth or nose. It turned around to face the source of the attack, revealing that its clothing was merely glowing and steaming with energy, not melted away like the wall and floor. When it found its quarry, a giant angel floating slightly off the ground next to the tower, its eyes narrowed once more.